Database Develop

[Q] Final word on task killers?

So I have heard that using a task killer app could do more harm then good. Is this true? If not, whats a highly recommend task killer app?

Why you shouldn't use them.

a.n said:
Why you shouldn't use them.
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I read this article via a link from gizmodo and it was very informative. I was using ATK for some time and thought it was doing well. I had no idea that many of the issues I was running into were actually coming from the task killer nixing items I needed running. I realized this after I removed the task killer and installed watchdog.
I am not going to say watchdog was streamlining power house for my phone but, it did allow me to see what was really going on in a much more efficient manner. The information it provides is useful and gives a much better idea of what is consuming all those battery eating clock cycles. I feel more comfortable now knowing what is actually active and whether I need it to be.
Since the change over I have been consuming more battery power but I just changed to Cognition and I have significantly less FCs. This is on top of my recent full time GPS usage and frequent music streaming.

task killers?

can anyone recommend a good task killer? ive tried atk on 2.2 but its very sluggish. i dl task panel x and it doesnt update frequently lol. i have autokiller memory but not sure if i am using it right lol. so if anyone is using a task killer, what r u using and r u getting good results? thanks in advance!

Do not use autokiller. I can't remember what problem it causes but it does indeed cause a problem on all galaxy phones. Or at laast my fascinate
Sent from my SCH-I500-Fascinate using XDA App

You shouldn't need one from all I've read about it.
but I use system panel to kill an app here and there.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Don't bother using a task killer. I used Advance Task Killer for the last two weeks but it probably hampered things more than it helped. Your phone will NOT slow down to a crawl. Most custom ROMs use good minfree settings that'll keep your phone snappy.
Just uninstall your task killer, or if you want to use it, turn off autostart, turn off autokill, and only use it for pesky apps that won't die.

toawkanavngthded said:
can anyone recommend a good task killer? ive tried atk on 2.2 but its very sluggish. i dl task panel x and it doesnt update frequently lol. i have autokiller memory but not sure if i am using it right lol. so if anyone is using a task killer, what r u using and r u getting good results? thanks in advance!
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I was using ATK and could not verify any benefit. I read the following article and gained some more understanding. I have been running without a Task Killer since and I see no loss in performance or battery life. I could say I have less FCs and more reliability with syncing email.
Read This: http://lifehacker.com/5650894/android-task-killers-explained-what-they-do-and-why-you-shouldnt-use-them

i have been getting random shutdown these few days (started like 3 days ago), about 1 shutdown per day. i'm not sure if it' the stock task manager, dolphin browser beta 4.0, or widget locker 1.2.7 causing it. i already removed stock task manager and downgraded widget locker to 1.2.4 to see what happens.

Task killers aren't generally needed on android. If its battery life you want then for one try not to compulsively look at your phone preventing the cpu from idling and screen from turning off. Get juice defender. It turns off data unless it is needed. Most apps don't use resorces when the phone is asleep unless they are designed to, like file sharing programs or apps that sync data in the background but there are also bad apps. In froyo Use the built in task manager (long prsss on home) to see what's running. If you havent used something in a while and don't need the process active then close it.
If it is performance you want then no task manager will help. You need to alter the minfree setting which manages memory and how apps use it. I use the one click lag fix app to do that. Other apps I used caused problems. I set the minfree to moderate. Its more agressive than stock but doesn't kill processes you might want running. Anything more agressive than that kills allshare while im streaming movies but there is a performance increase when set to optimal or strict however it is slight.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897

Nook memory leaking...anyone else?

I am running auto nooter on my nc (lovin it) but i have noticed that the available memory is slowly leaking. On reboot, i usually have around 300 available and that number slowly but surely decreases until its so low that it reboots automatically.
I have advanced task killer installed and periodically kill all the tasks to make sure nothing is running in the background.
Any idea what might be causing this?

Advanced Task Killer is not helping you. Google has come right out and said Task Killers will do more harm than good on your Android device. Here is a good read:
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/04/multitasking-android-way.html
The fact that you can see an application's process "running" does not mean the application is running or doing anything. It may simply be there because Android needed it at some point, and has decided that it would be best to keep it around in case it needs it again.
...
Once Android determines that it needs to remove a process, it does this brutally, simply force-killing it. The kernel can then immediately reclaim all resources needed by the process, without relying on that application being well written and responsive to a polite request to exit. Allowing the kernel to immediately reclaim application resources makes it a lot easier to avoid serious out of memory situations.
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czarjohn said:
I am running auto nooter on my nc (lovin it) but i have noticed that the available memory is slowly leaking. On reboot, i usually have around 300 available and that number slowly but surely decreases until its so low that it reboots automatically.
I have advanced task killer installed and periodically kill all the tasks to make sure nothing is running in the background.
Any idea what might be causing this?
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Click to collapse
It will not reboot when it runs out of ram. My suspicion is you're seeing the 'random reboot' problem that happens on the stock B&N ROM. See here for a workaround: http://nookdevs.com/NookColor_Issues
mrapollinax said:
Advanced Task Killer is not helping you. Google has come right out and said Task Killers will do more harm than good on your Android device. Here is a good read:
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I totally agree with this on 2.2 upwards... Unfortunately 2.1 is a little more lax about memory handling, and can sometimes get quite slow and jumpy and can benefit from a flush. I use System Panel and exclude all of my important tasks and widget, and if I see my NC getting jumpy or such, I'll kill all (which excludes those already excluded apps of course). But auto task killers are always a bad idea.

mrapollinax said:
Advanced Task Killer is not helping you. Google has come right out and said Task Killers will do more harm than good on your Android device. Here is a good read:
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/04/multitasking-android-way.html
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Thanks for the post, that was a great read and I am uninstalling my task killer now.
Mike

Regarding task killing, I recommend something like Watchdog to monitor apps as opposed to an auto-task killer. Watchdog has a really nice widget for monitoring system resources and in the rare occasion that an app starts misbehaving, it will give you a notification and the option to kill it. Otherwise letting the OS handle things itself is the best option. I've been using computers for a very long time and idea of leaving apps running seems counter-intuitive, but in my experience there is no reason to not trust what Google says about the issue.

czarjohn said:
I am running auto nooter on my nc (lovin it) but i have noticed that the available memory is slowly leaking. On reboot, i usually have around 300 available and that number slowly but surely decreases until its so low that it reboots automatically.
I have advanced task killer installed and periodically kill all the tasks to make sure nothing is running in the background.
Any idea what might be causing this?
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Click to collapse
i am also having these problems but im on honeycomb
i dont have any task killer installed but i installed one last week to check if my memory was leaking or if the rom was just rebooting

Great stuff here. Thanks for all the info. I think it was the random reboot since it did seem to happen most often when i was putting the nc in to standby.
Lots of good stuff here. Gonna miss the little green widget on my home screen, but i guess google knows best...

czarjohn said:
Great stuff here. Thanks for all the info. I think it was the random reboot since it did seem to happen most often when i was putting the nc in to standby.
Lots of good stuff here. Gonna miss the little green widget on my home screen, but i guess google knows best...
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well i installed honeycomb preview v2 on my eemc from samuallhaff and it seems to remove this problem
i suggest you switch to his rom if you want the memory leaks to stop

luigi90210 said:
well i installed honeycomb preview v2 on my eemc from samuallhaff and it seems to remove this problem
i suggest you switch to his rom if you want the memory leaks to stop
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Don't confuse "memory leaks" with "weird wifi sleep reboot bug".

[Request] Process manager/Task manager

I am wondering if we have a task manager/process explorer app for Nexus 4? Currently I am using AirDroid v2 that includes a task manager, but I am looking for one with more options.
I travel a lot & would like to kill as much unwanted applications running in the background as possible to conserve battery.

There is no more need to use task killer to manage android systems any more. You will be doing more harm than good, in fact there is no good in killing tssks manually.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

Point noted.
But when I use Airdroid task manager, I see a process when the corresponding app is not running the background.
To mention a few; Cut the rope free, stocks & Hill climb racing.
Few system process like picasa uploader, chrome etc.
As you said andoird may optimize most of them, but I would like some control when running thin on battery.

mohan_168 said:
I am wondering if we have a task manager/process explorer app for Nexus 4? Currently I am using AirDroid v2 that includes a task manager, but I am looking for one with more options.
I travel a lot & would like to kill as much unwanted applications running in the background as possible to conserve battery.
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use greenify https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.oasisfeng.greenify&hl=en to hibernate any persisting apps/processes (except system). apps relaunch when you open them.

Killing apps and then having to reload them actually uses more battery than them being dormant in the background and already loaded when called upon. The problem is when you have misbehaving apps that stay in the foreground eating up cpu, instead of going dormant into the background. And this does happen. I use an app called Watchdog that alerts me when this happens. It allows you to kill the app when this happens. It also allows you to whitelist and blacklist apps and processes.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

main phone setting, apps, running.. default task/process manager. in the top right will be an option to show cached process as well.

simms22 said:
main phone setting, apps, running.. default task/process manager. in the top right will be an option to show cached process as well.
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We all know that is there. The op mentioned wanting more options, mainly monitoring and kill options.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

mohan_168 said:
I am wondering if we have a task manager/process explorer app for Nexus 4? Currently I am using AirDroid v2 that includes a task manager, but I am looking for one with more options.
I travel a lot & would like to kill as much unwanted applications running in the background as possible to conserve battery.
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Click to collapse
fernandezhjr said:
We all know that is there. The op mentioned wanting more options, mainly monitoring and kill options.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
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fast reboot(free), but the paid version i like better https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.greatbytes.fastreboot&hl=en

rayiskon, I will try greenify & let you know how that helps.
fernandezhjr, I agree restarting app is not an optimal way, but I require to squeeze battery to atleast make phone calls when I am away from charging options.
simms22, fast reboot looks promising. I'll try the free one for now and take it from there.

It's kind of already been said, but I want to clarify as much as possible.
Apps running dormant in the background (using RAM) use no more power than if it weren't running. This is because all of the memory you have is being refreshed all the time, the controller has no idea whether there is actually data there, it still refreshes the entire space of memory.
Apps running "dormant" but using CPU do use more power than if it weren't running. I assume OP is wanting some sort of monitoring app that shows which apps are using CPU, in which case is fine. If OP is wanting to kill all apps that he isn't using at the time to conserve battery, then he would actually be doing the opposite of what he wants, as it requires to CPU to spin back up to restart it later. Again, the difference here is RAM vs CPU, one doesn't use battery (or rather, uses the same amount of battery, no matter how much of it is being utilized), and one can use more or less battery depending on how much it's used.

Johmama said:
It's kind of already been said, but I want to clarify as much as possible.
Apps running dormant in the background (using RAM) use no more power than if it weren't running. This is because all of the memory you have is being refreshed all the time, the controller has no idea whether there is actually data there, it still refreshes the entire space of memory.
Apps running "dormant" but using CPU do use more power than if it weren't running. I assume OP is wanting some sort of monitoring app that shows which apps are using CPU, in which case is fine. If OP is wanting to kill all apps that he isn't using at the time to conserve battery, then he would actually be doing the opposite of what he wants, as it requires to CPU to spin back up to restart it later. Again, the difference here is RAM vs CPU, one doesn't use battery (or rather, uses the same amount of battery, no matter how much of it is being utilized), and one can use more or less battery depending on how much it's used.
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Thanks for the detailed explanation. I understand killing process, shutting down cached process or apps & later restarting them is only going to fire up the CPU usage which completely defeats the purpose of conserving battery.
Though not a daily ask, at times I am stuck in situation where a phone call or SMS is all I need to keep me going.

[Q] Task Manager Question

Hi Peoples
This may be old ground, but hopefully not as I have tried a search on this forum, and there may be an obvious answer but I didn't want to fiddle around and wreck my phone lol
I have a third party app manager app installed on stock 4.2.1 ROM, not because there is anything wrong with the original task manager per se but because I find this one quicker and easier if an app hangs up or I want to close it manually for example; I totally get the whole thing about task killers etc, also the task manager app I installed also gives me a pretty handy overview of CPU clock etc I have rooted the phone and use No Frills CPU to throttle the clock speed back when I am not actually using the phone and hopefully stretch the battery life out a little.
So, in a nut shell; can I freeze the default Task Manager and just use the one I installed without there being any problems? I don't know enough about how android works and exactly what the default Task Manager does to decide if it absolutely has to be there for the phone to work.
Any help would be greatly appreciated and just slap me with a wet fish if my questions are stupid

weezlerox said:
Hi Peoples
This may be old ground, but hopefully not as I have tried a search on this forum, and there may be an obvious answer but I didn't want to fiddle around and wreck my phone lol
I have a third party app manager app installed on stock 4.2.1 ROM, not because there is anything wrong with the original task manager per se but because I find this one quicker and easier if an app hangs up or I want to close it manually for example; I totally get the whole thing about task killers etc, also the task manager app I installed also gives me a pretty handy overview of CPU clock etc I have rooted the phone and use No Frills CPU to throttle the clock speed back when I am not actually using the phone and hopefully stretch the battery life out a little.
So, in a nut shell; can I freeze the default Task Manager and just use the one I installed without there being any problems? I don't know enough about how android works and exactly what the default Task Manager does to decide if it absolutely has to be there for the phone to work.
Any help would be greatly appreciated and just slap me with a wet fish if my questions are stupid
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I was a bit intrested in memory cleaners/task killers but as much as I know know now Android has built-in memory mechanisms/algorithms which are managing ram to get the best results. If you use any external app you're just slowing down your phone. There is ony one app which can help you a bit to get more hours in standby - greenify, it suspends selected apps on background so it won't use cpu or wifi. When you run them, they run as usual, just not at background after close (do not use it on messangers, you won't get messages after greenifying it).
Next thing - no frills cpu - yes, this can help a bit too, for example there are some battery saving governors or you can underclock cpu (I haven't had lags on 1300 Mhz)
Also I get more hours on battery from custom roms - KitKat came with big improvements here. You can always go back if you don't like it, just do a backup in recovery.

yes but....
I already use greenify and generally freeze apps that I am not using but don't necessarily want to uninstall
I agree totally about the way android works with memory hence my comment in the OP lol.
Anybody else have any advice that may answer my question about the stock Task Manager?